"Playing as a passionate collector: how the game grew and changed for me"

#PokemonGO: Hello Travellers,Quite while ago I was on the Silph Road subreddit and I came across a post that asked players to define themselves as a collector or a battler. I labeled myself as a collector without even thinking about it. I have been playing daily since July 22, 2016 with the aim of filling my Pokedex.Raids have added fun new gameplay, and made me nostalgic for how much I loved Pokemon GO at the very beginning. So I wanted to share some of my thoughts on how the game feels extremely different for me as a collector over a year into playing. I would like to highlight some of the different ways to collect Pokemon in this game, whether they have disappeared, changed, or remain an ongoing feature, and some pros and cons to these aspects. Ultimately, I like when Niantic mixes effort (time put into the game) and RNG to make events novel (e.g., evolving uncommons), fun (e.g., exploring the city as you look for nests), or rewarding (e.g., walking a Pokemon for weeks to evolve it), and dislike when Niantic makes things that were previously challenging too easy.Note: I write this is a player who plays daily, lives in a city, will sometimes go out of my way for pokemon (travelling to nests) but tends to play somewhat passively - on walks in my time off, when I'm on my way to work, when I'm out with friends. I tend not to accumulate a lot of coins (much more with the new gym system now though) and will very occasionally spend giftcards on the game.Collecting via "hunting"The old tracker (not the original 3 step tracker): The old tracker was what made Pokemon Go fun, and even addicting, for me when I started playing. I felt like I was truly exploring when I looked for Pokemon. Sometimes, I'd pick the right way to travel and I'd get really excited when I found what I was looking for. Other times, I'd wander around until the sighting disappeared. There was never a guarantee I would find a pokemon, which is what made hunting challenging and fun.The fun of levelling up uncommon, but gradually obtainable, pokemon: Vulpix, Arcanine, Electrode, Golem, Arbok, Blastoise, and so many more of these pokemon make me nostalgic for when I evolved my first of each. It took me months to find and hatch enough of these Pokemon to finally evolve them. Even though very few of them were great for battling or even prestiging, their novelty and uniqueness made them special. Slowly filling my dex with uncommons is one of the aspects I found most rewarding about the game. Time put into the game correlated with how quickly my dex could grow. I was so proud to show off finally evolving uncommons - I felt like I put actual work into them. Since they took a while to find, it also increased the duration of the game for me.Hunting pokemon to evolve multiple movesets before TMs: After realizing not all movesets are equal, evolving the "perfect moveset" is what kept me catching common pokemon. Outside of commons, as disappointing as getting a mediocre charge move for my venusaur was, it meant I was still happy to see the uncommon bulbasaur on my tracker.Fleeing Pokémon: A mechanism that still exists. As frustrating as a rare pokemon fleeing can be, it also extends how long I need to go to keep searching for it. It makes it even more novel and satisfying when I finally catch that very rare (for my biome) miltank, for example.Increasing spawn points: This was a nice memory as a collector because I had increased chances of rare pokemon spawning near me. I think this was very helpful for residential areas, whether you were collecting or trying to evolve new movesets. Especially with the old tracker, it meant I could wander around the streets in the evening and still find something cool.Nests: I will always love local nests (thank you Silph Road!). The aspect of chance works so well here. Sometimes all you get is spam (which can still be beneficial, if you mass evolve regularly); other times you get the pokemon you need the most. It made me look forward to something that was built into the game - rather than the unknowns of events.Realizing the power of nests for candy definitely marked a shift in gameplay for me. Walking around biodiverse areas was no longer the best bet for uncommons; I began to research nests near places I was travelling in the day, and going to nests I needed in my spare time. It was great for Niantic's intention of exploring the city, although I did miss the chance part of the "hunting" I used to do. Nests correlate well with time and effort, and still incorporate RNG into the game.Having regionals at events and changing regional rarity: Seeing Mr. Mime at the Japan event made me wonder if I would ever plan a PokeGo vacation. I was thinking of picking Florida for a trip so I could look for corsola/heracross, but now I wonder if I should go somewhere else on my travel bucketlist, because the pokemon might come to me regardless. I was visiting family in England for the first time, and capturing Mr. Mime (I live in Canada) was such a neat highlight. But even the rarity of a regional outside your home country may be gone if Niantic decides to spread them around. It's nice for my compulsive desire to complete the dex, but unfortunately cheapens the rarity of regionals.On the topic of regionals: I still don't understand why tauros had to disappear. I can't imagine how people who travelled to North America for them during that time (I'm sure not a huge amount of people, but there must've been a few!) felt on discovering they had disappeared. I would hope regionals would all eventually be common for there region again (though I know farfetch'd never was).Walking, Hatching, and Spinning PokeStopsWalking your Pokemon: This addition was lovely, both for levelling up the rares and uncommons you had, and for evolving new pokemon. Finally hitting 100 candy for my geodude was a very exciting moment for me.Incubators: One of my favourite sources of gameplay which I feel like has changed a bit, but not for the worse. I loved when, at the beginning of the game, eggs were my main source of uncommons and rares. I love the rarity of 10ks; I love how often I get meh pokemon, because it makes getting the ones I need meaningful. I love going on walks and hatching a new pokemon. I love how the addition of baby Pokemon adds new purpose to walking for dex completion. Removing many species of eggs also makes certain nests/spawns more novel, however I miss the variation of having every pokemon family available in eggs.Evolution Stones: Definitely extended the length of my hunt for Gen 2 Pokemon. I appreciated their rarity; slowing down Gen 2 was nice, especially since I've become more strategic and calculated with my gameplay - less wandering around and more deliberate planning which nests I go to, which pokemon I walk, which spawn sites I visit, which candy I saved.EventsBiome/Type themed events: Events makes uncommons popular for the week. They are fun because they are a surprise - you never know which pokemon is coming to you. They are amazing for those species you are taking forever to build enough candy to evolve. However, they definitely decreased rarity for uncommons. Pokemon that took me forever to find candy for, by the end of their themed week, I could have three of. They add an element of waiting patiently for the perfect event to get what you're missing, rather than playing consistantly to gradually build candy for what you need. I hate to say it, but they have cheapened the game a little bit for me. That "it finally spawned/hatched!" moment I used to get when capturing pokemon I never see is often lost, now I could wait around for valentines to see a dozen lickitung on my street. The excitement and satisfaction of finally completing my Gen 1 dex with Hitmonlee, who took me nearly a year to hatch (via Tyrogue) would not have been meaningful had I got a fighting event first. I recognize, though, that for rural and suburban areas, filling a pokedex would be nearly impossible without them. I also realize that, importantly, they recruit casuals and dormant players back into the game. So I don't think they're horrible by any means, I just noticed I had a less rewarding time evolving Pokemon when Gen 2 came around because of them.Events with walking-bonuses: These have enhanced collecting for me. The halloween event, for example, sped up candy-collecting for uncommons without making it feel too easy.Events with incubator-bonuses: Have also enchanced collecting for me. The randomness of the event when anything could evolve from a 2K was really neat. Speeding up incubation time was also very satisfying.RaidsRaid bosses: I'm still adjusting to them, but I think this change is good for collectors. I'm glad not just any Pokemon can be a raid boss - it makes upcoming rotations interesting to look forward to. I suspect they also help people with dex fillers. I appreciate the additional chance/skill involved in catching the boss at the end of the raid.Like events, though, they interfere with the hunting and walking aspect of the game for me. Before the raid bosses came out, I had walked my larvitar (a very rare spawn in my area) nearly 400km to get enough candy to evolve tyranitar. That effort ended up being unnecessary, because I have now caught two tyranitar from raids. While the candy is still useful to level them up, I could obtain them even more easily through rare candy. Which brings me to...Rare candy: I think u/the_kevlar_kid does a better job of summarizing the potential harm of rare candy for collecting, especially in the future, here http://ift.tt/2w8XqQJ . I have similar anxieties. I was ready to walk my mareep for ampharos, one of the final mons I need for my Gen 2 dex. I was looking forward to the Golem/Tyranitar moment I would have after walking many kms for enough candy - but, needing space for my bag, I've dumped my candy on her. Walking simply isn't valuable anymore - raiding will get me the same thing faster. It's now worth only a tiny bonus. Similarly, nests and hunting for pokemon is less signficant beyond catching that initial family member.Ultimately, looking back, I would say that there were a lot of things Niantic got right with chance and rarity earlier in the game. You could complete your dex, but you had to work for it. Even Pokemon outside of the strongest or rarest species felt special, because you had to put effort - through hunting, hatching, and walking - to get them. Not all the changes are bad. Events are really fun, raids add depth to the game. As well, I acknowledge, completely, that people's play styles are totally different - the amount of time and money you put into the game varies; your city's size, whether or not you prioritize collecting at all. And then there's your personality - I personally loved building my Pokedex slowly, it made the game meaningful and rewarding for me, but some people like to compete among friends for how quickly they can finish it.Thank you for reading my reflections on being a Pokemon collector. I hope collecting continues to be a fun and challenging aspect of this game! via /r/TheSilphRoad http://ift.tt/2x2o76d